Stakeholders personally fund seabed survey

In a show of true bipartisan support, a seabed survey to find a preferred site for ex-HMAS Tobruk has been personally funded by local politicians and businesses.

Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt held discussions with stakeholders to secure funding for the additional testing to be carried out.

“With extensive work already done on securing the ex-HMAS Tobruk, one of the last activities was a seabed survey of the ocean floor in the proposed dive wreck location.

“The next step was finding a way to fund the hydrographic survey, so I raised the idea of joint funding it with my colleagues in Federal, State and Local Government, as well as several local businesses.

“Being supportive of the project from the outset, they were all quick to say yes,” Mr Pitt said.

Getting on board to help Mr Pitt fund the survey was patron Senator James McGrath, State Member for Bundaberg The Hon Leanne Donaldson, State Member for Burnett Steve Bennett MP, State Member for Hervey Bay Ted Sorensen MP, Fraser Coast Regional Councillors Rolf Light and Darren Everard, Hervey Bay Boat Club’s Ed Gibson and Nick Schulz.

“With the monetary support from Fraser Coast Regional Council and Bundaberg Regional Council, and the existing work done by the advisory group, we already knew we had a strong bid for ex-HMAS Tobruk.

“But this show of bipartisan support by all three levels of government and local businesses – people that are prepared to put their money where their mouth is – shows that we will work together to make this project a reality,” Mr Pitt said.

“They also realise the economic potential of this project for the region, which will bring long term, sustainable jobs.”

 Preliminary reports from the survey completed by AQUAMAP have identified a site which is 25.13 nautical miles from the Urangan Boat Harbour entrance and 22.78 nautical miles from the Burnett River entrance.

“There are a number of technical requirements for the selection of the site including the depth, currents, tides and visibility,” Mr Pitt said.

“The ideal site will have mild currents which would make it suitable for divers of all experience levels.”